Let's pretend you want to buy tickets to the second test this Saturday. So you google and you get: www.rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk OK, now try and buy tickets....

Let's pretend you want to buy tickets to the second test this Saturday. So you google and you get: www.rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk OK, now try and buy tickets....

I was on one of only 2 coaches Leeds Rhinos filled for a World Cup SemiFinal at the national stadium. On board were Hull and KR fans as Leeds was the nearest club organising coaches for it!

I get your point but I look at it the other way. If we depend on the same group of fans to attend all international matches wherever they are played then we will stretch their time and finances too far. A bloke on a reasonable wage of around £20k ( and, let's face it, many fans earn less than that ) from Wigan is going to struggle to do London and Hull on top of his local Test match, let alone if taking a child or two, especially when they are all in the space of 14 days.

It is MUCH better for RL [iIF [/ithis afternoon's crowd is mostly from the South. These will then likely be fans who would not be at Wigan and Hull, thus expanding the fan base and seeing money flow into the game from people who otherwise would not be doing so through regular Super League matches.

Yes, it becomes a marketing challenge for each match, but that's not a huge amount of work for a professional marketer, especially when we're talking - at absolute best - of maybe four international fixtures a year.

Not to mention the same set of fans attending all 3 would limit any other sales like shirts, etc.

I think you are missing what I am trying to say. It's nice to attract different audiences in different areas, but these should be on top of your core audience. Ideally we would have a 20-30k and eventually more who will go to any game that is advertised. Then when you attract these new/casual/local fans then you are filling in the gaps, not them making up the majority of the audience.
I can't accept that having three tests in three weeks is a problem. I bought my tickets months ago, and got a discount for doing so. The gap between the announcement of and the game and the actual fixture should be even longer, but if you wanted to go to two, or three of these test matches then cost should not really be a factor. They are cheaper than regular league games!

Still asking too much of core supporters. In Union, when England play Scotland in Edinburgh the majority of the crowd is from Scotland, vice-versa when the game is at Twickers. Neither is it just about money ( although, good value as the NZ tickets are, they are additional spending over-and-above what you've just spent on nine months of club RL ). In my case I run my own business and am comfortable financially, but I can't give up the time to be at all three series games: Olympic stadium yesterday my only attendance.